MyEntre.Net Iowa Small Business Blog - E-Commerce

When was the last time you received an unsolicited refund?

Rob Williams — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 21:35:00 -3650

With technology so ubiquitous now in our everyday life, it is sometimes hard to be surprised by what it can do. My latest experience with Amazon's Video on Demand service pleasantly surprised me with what is possible in terms of better customer service.

Typically, determining customer satisfaction with a technology service occurs after the point of sale. For instance, I order a product or service online and receive an e-mail receipt which includes a feedback survey link which I can then choose to complete. This is in contrast to when I walk into a retail location and interact with the business owner, who can gauge my satisfaction and act accordingly during the entire sale process.

As I eluded to earlier, Amazon Video on Demand has taken the next step with what may be possible utilizing technology to ensure customer satisfaction from point of sale and during delivery. While watching The Crazies with my girlfriend, our video playback was repeatedly interrupted with time spent waiting for the video to buffer.* Our satisfaction with the Amazon Video on Demand service was less than spectacular. Imagine my surprise and indeed delight, when the next day I received an e-mail from Amazon apologizing for the poor playback quality of the movie I ordered along with a full refund! I had not contacted Amazon to complain; their back-end technology had flagged my experience as being potentially poor and they acted on that information to ensure they would continue to have my repeat business. The exact text of the e-mail was as follows:

Hello,

We noticed that you experienced poor video playback while watching the following rental(s) on Amazon Video On Demand:

The Crazies

We're sorry for the inconvenience and have issued you a refund for the following amount(s): $3.99

While Amazon Video On Demand transactions are typically not refundable, we are happy to make an exception in this case. This refund should be processed within the next 2 to 3 business days and will appear on your next billing statement for the same credit card used to purchase this item.

Please visit our troubleshooting page for tips on ways you can potentially improve your viewing experience: http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html

We hope to see you again soon.

Amazon Video On Demand Team

Amazon not only refunded me the cost of the rental, but they included in the e-mail a link to explore ways to improve my connection quality and playback of their services. I suspect in years to come, other online service providers (if they are not already), will install similar technologies to track customer satisfaction automatically from initial purchase to completed delivery.

* I have been using Amazon's Video on Demand service for over a year now and been very happy with both the quality and user friendly interface of their service. My experience here is based only on an isolated incident and I in no way mean to convey that Amazon's Video on Demand product is of poor quality.

Computer Service Contracts

Joseph Sullens — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 13:53:00 -3650

For those of you in need of computer technical support but don't have the need for an on staff professional, I have a solution.

Joe's Computer Consulting Service is available to provide on-site technical support for home or business under contract for a nominal fee that will fit most budgets.

In addition, I can also advise you about upgrades to your present system as well as making suggestions for on-site or off-site data storage and advise you about future computer systems that fit your business to a T.

If and when your business computer has a problem or crashes, Joe's Computer Consulting Service is available to assist your business needs. I service North Central Iowa based out of Manson. I come to YOU so your problem is fixed TODAY!

Contact me today by phone: (712) 469-2279 or e-mail: jccs@iowatelecom.net about contract services that are available to support YOUR business.

I can also be found on Facebook under Joseph W. Sullens and on Twitter under jccscustom.

Joe's Computer Consulting Service is here to serve YOU!

"I make housecalls to YOUR computer!'

THANKS FOR YOUR BUSINESS.
THANKS FOR SUPPORTING IOWA BUSINESSES.
TOGETHER WE WILL GROW IOWA'S ECONOMY AS LONG AS WE SUPPORT EACH OTHER!

Great Video about B2B Marketing

Rob Williams — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 16:05:00 -3650

"How to Start an Internet Business" class coming up

Jason Trout — Thu, 06 May 2010 17:07:00 -3650

Just wanted to let you all know about two upcoming classes for next week. Both are called "How to Start an Internet Business" and one is being held on Thu/Fri of next week and the other on Sat/Sun of next week. The class is designed to teach you everything you need to know to start an Internet business.

Class topics include:

The benefits of starting a web based business, including low start-up costs
The ability to launch a business while keeping your current job
A review of the four basic Internet business models including advertising based, retail, forum and service
Web design and the variety of web-hosting options that are available
Internet marketing strategies and techniques
The importance of testing your website and making incremental improvements
How to discover which keywords your site should target, public relations, blogging, and merchant affiliate programs
How to run your own e-mail newsletter

Time: 10:00am - 4:00pm (both sessions), with a one hour lunch break
Location: Steyer Opera House, Hotel Winneshiek, Decorah, IA.
Cost: $125

You can learn more here: http://www.StratusWebGroup.com/how-to-start-an-internet-business

If anyone has any questions, just shoot me an e-mail. Thanks!

Is Your Website Up?

Chad Feldmann — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 01:57:00 -3650

Do you know if your website is up and running? Most people just assume their site is working. Unfortunately, that is not always a safe assumption.

I recently worked with a client who forgot to pay his yearly web hosting bill. The hosting provider turned off his site without informing him. As a result, every time a user went to the website, it was not found. What would your customers think if they went to your site and it wasn't there? Would they wonder if your company was still in business? This client's site was down for several weeks before he finally noticed. How much business would you lose if this happened to you? How much business would you lose if your site was down for even an hour? How would you know?

One way is to go to your website and check it every 5 minutes to make sure it is working. I'm guessing you probably have other business to tend to, however, so that's not a strategy I would recommend.

Instead, you should seriously consider using a website monitoring service. The service will let you know if your website is not working properly. Once you've signed up for an account with a monitoring service, setting the monitor up is normally as simple as entering your website address, telling the service what text it should find on your webpage, and indicating how often you want the service to check your site (Note: The more often the service monitors your site, the more it will cost.).

For example, on www.farreachinc.com, I have the service look for "Our Services," located halfway down the page in the middle column. If it doesn't find that text, it assumes the site is down and notifies me via email and text message. As long as I don't receive any notifications, I'm comfortable the site is up and operating normally. If I do get a notification, I can respond immediately to reduce downtime as much as possible.

Next steps

Check with your hosting provider and ask if they offer website monitoring with your hosting package. If not, don't worry. This is something you can easily set up yourself. Just Google "Website monitoring." You will get over a million results, but just check out the results on the first page and you're sure to find a service that meets your needs.

I have worked with two different monitoring services in the past, DotCom-Monitor and Service Uptime and would recommend either. Service Uptime even offers free website monitoring for a single monitor at a 30 minute interval.

If you sign up for a monitoring service and realize your site is down often, you should bring it to your hosting provider's attention and see if they can remedy the situation. If not, you may want to consider changing hosting providers.

Have any of you tried other monitoring services? Let me know.

Image Credits: http://www.flickr.com/photos/marcobellucci/ / CC BY 2.0